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Needless to say, Jandi didn’t get a wink of sleep that night.

An assassination, she thought numbly, hugging a blanket around her shoulders as she curled up on the window sill. It’s like something from a book. Something imaginary concocted by the bad guys who always lose.

Unfortunately, it was clear that this plot was far from imaginary. The voices on the radio had terminated their conversation almost immediately, but Jandi knew from the severity of their tones and economy of their words that she had not misunderstood their intentions.

What do I do? The glass of the window pressed against her bare legs, chilling her to the bone. Do I tell Kyungsoo? But no, I can’t. He’ll only be unhappy about the radio and take it away. Jandi couldn’t risk that, not when she had finally received access to information in the Capital.

Another alternative was to bring the issue up with Jongin, but Jandi didn’t know how much she trusted the kennel tender either. She had only met him once, after all, and he’d all but admitted that he had ulterior motives for speaking to her in the first place. The more she thought about it, the more suspicions arose. Why did Jongin have a radio in his pocket in the first place? Had he known Jandi would be visiting the kennels? Did that mean he knew what Mansoo was doing at the mansion that had required Jandi’s temporary eviction? Where had he obtained the radio, and why was it able to pick up what seemed to be a conversation over walkie talkies?

Miserable, Jandi sighed and stared blankly out the window. From her room, she could just barely glimpse the gleam of moonlight on the palace far in the distance. The Empress Dowager and her son were probably asleep, she thought, as most people were at this hour. Thoughts of the little emperor and his young, overburdened mother being threatened in their beds made her stomach twist, and Jandi shuddered as the word assassination reverberated through her mind again.

Assassination. An ugly word for an ugly deed.

She could only assume the women on the radio meant to kill the imperial family considering their references to the palace blueprints and gardens. The Cabinet members, who were the only other major political powers in the empire, all lived in their own homes rather than the palace anyway.

Why anyone thought assassinating the imperial family was a good idea was unknown to Jandi, though. It wasn’t as if the Empress Dowager or the three-year-old Emperor held much power at all outside of ceremonial appearances, and very few would benefit directly from their deaths. Although the power vacuum induced by their deaths would be laughably miniscule, the perceived impact of the imperial family’s assassination would be immense, upsetting the delicate balance of corrupt power in the Capital. All that would result would be politician after politician angling for more power when there was very little to gain. In short, Jandi thought, this assassination would only unleash unproductive chaos.

Is there anyone who would benefit from such upheaval? Another empire, perhaps? Honestly, Jandi knew very little of the foreign lands bordering the empire, and of the knowledge she did have, much of it she had reason to doubt. Her textbooks, like most, had been severely censored all through her education, and the remaining information was piecemeal and often irrelevant. Besides, the women on the radio hadn’t spoken with accents, and very few foreigners could pull off the nuances of Capital pronunciation so fluently.

No. These women sounded local. And truly, just the fact that they were women alone signaled that something strange was afoot; it wasn’t as if women were typically allowed into positions of power here, as Jandi had experienced for herself, and anything deviating from the strict standard set by the Capital was odd indeed.

What do I do? Despondent, Jandi clutched even more tightly to her blanket. The imperial family doesn’t deserve a fate like this. But I don’t know enough to take action on my own. Who will believe me in this godforsaken city? Who will fight for what is right?

The night, empty and black outside her window, gave no answer.

***

Morning eventually came, bringing with it swirls of bloody red in the sky and dark circles under Jandi’s eyes. Her vigil had continued through the night. An hour before dawn, Jandi had crawled back to feign sleep in her bed so the maids would not be shocked when they came in to set out her clothes for the day, but the soft sheets and pillows brought her no comfort.

“Young Mistress,” one maid said when Jandi had been successfully “roused” from her false sleep, “Master Do left the house earlier this morning, but he left a note for you with instructions for the day.”

“Instructions?” Jandi was already grumbling internally, feeling a pounding headache coming on as a result of both the sleep deprivation and her father-in-law. “What kind of instructions?”

Wordlessly, the maid handed her a note. Mansoo’s handwriting was, not unlike the man himself, harsh and angled, the lines on the page uneven from the varying pressure he had exerted while writing.

Kyungsoo is at the palace today for a meeting with Her Imperial Majesty. Bring him lunch, and make sure the palace photographers see you.

No salutation, no signature, no “please” or “thank you.” Not that Jandi had been expecting any of those things, but they would have been nice, she thought wistfully. But never mind that. If she wanted to escape the rage of her father-in-law, she had better prepare to cook for the first time since her arrival in the Capital.

***

A few hours later, Jandi walked past the great gates of the palace, a cloth-swaddled lunch box for Kyungsoo in her hands as the cameras clicked away behind her. It was a struggle to keep her face carefully blank; memories of her first public appearance and the scandal a simple scoff had caused made her cautious, and thoughts of the palace and assassination did nothing to ease her mind.

“I’m here to see my husband,” she said when she reached the attendant at the door, her voice just loud enough to carry down to the cluster of reporters beyond the gates. “Do Kyungsoo. He forgot his lunch at home today.”

Looking thoroughly unimpressed with the plain lunch box, the attendant nodded and ducked inside the palace briefly before returning. “He’s on his way down.”

Waiting in silence was even more uncomfortable than walking, Jandi decided, trying and failing to ignore the eyes boring into her back. At least when she was walking, her limbs had something to do, something to distract her from the awful feeling of being watched like a fish in a rapidly evaporating pud